ARE YOU READY

FATHER JIM FOSDICK

ST. MARY OF THE SNOWS

DEC 2, 2007

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Holy Ghost. This is the first Sunday of Advent and one of the traditions at St. Mary’s is to switch to Rite One for Advent so Holy Ghost. I read a story this week that fits my message. A priest walks into a bar and asks the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to Heaven?” The man says he does. “Then stand over there my son.” The priest asks a second man, “Do you want to go to Heaven?” “Certainly,” is the man’s reply so he joins the first guy. The priest walks up to a third man and asks, “Do you want to go to Heaven?” “No Father.” “You mean you don’t want to go to Heaven when you die?” “Oh, when I die,” says the man. “I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.”

What if you were about to go to heaven right now? Jesus says we don’t know…can’t know when he’s coming again in Glory and it could be now.  Advent means coming and it’s a season where we anticipate Jesus coming. The most obvious sense in which most of us think of this season is that we are awaiting the coming of Christ as a baby that first Christmas. But it’s also a season filled with hope for Christ’s coming again. Our gospel is Jesus words to the disciples and us and he says he’s coming and we need to be ready.

I think it would be a natural impulse for us to say this doesn’t really apply to us. The temptation is to dismiss these words from Matthew. After all, how do they pertain to us? Written at a time when the early church had bet its life on Jesus' return, these seem odd words to hear on the first Sunday of Advent. We are busy preparing the creche for a baby, but Matthew appears to be announcing Jesus' second coming. And it isn't just an odd lesson, but a frightening one. In a season when we seek assurance, Matthew's words are enough to scare us half to death. These words compare the coming of God's promised one to the death and devastation of the flood during Noah's time. We are looking forward to being reunited with family and friends while this lesson speaks of untimely separation from co-workers and unpredictable departure. And then, in the event our Advent and Christmas sensibilities are not offended completely, the coming of Jesus is compared to a thief who breaks into a house at an unexpected hour. Matthew doesn't talk like someone who knows how we celebrate the holidays.

It is for these reasons that dismissing this passage would be an easy task. Yet, the church includes this lesson or one like it on the first Sunday of Advent of every year. It isn't just Matthew who thinks these are timely and important words. By including this as a lectionary text the church has agreed with the gospel writer. Before we get too far into December, before any significant plans are made about our Advent celebration, the wisdom of the saints dictates that we read this passage from Matthew.

Perhaps it has something to do with this theme of preparation. "Get ready, people," the Lord says, "because I haven't even let the angels in on the secret. I may come at the least expected time. Be prepared!" We appreciate the advice, but some of us have been getting ready for this season since about this time last year. We bought our wrapping paper the week after Christmas last December. We have picked up gifts throughout the year as we have come across certain unique items that we might not be able to find anywhere else. One strand of Christmas lights was so hard to take down that we decided to leave it up year around. What more preparation could we make?

In our commercialized country, businesses are making sure we are prepared. I think there is an ever-present risk that we will spend more time at the mall than at the manger. Before the plastic pumpkins and costumes of Halloween are put away, hints of Christmas are seen in displays here and there. By mid-November shoppers have to step over artificial poinsettias on their way to their favorite department. Called the biggest shopping day of the year, the Friday after Thanksgiving is not for the faint of heart. When we were down in Waukesha at Thanksgiving there were ads that stores would open at 4AM. Christmas trees start standing up in living rooms and sanctuaries alike. Advent wreaths are aglow with promise and light. We attend special services. Greeting cards from loved ones, complete with quotes from scripture, are taped to the mantle with care. We don't want to be too hard on Matthew, especially since the gospel writer did not have two thousand years worth of tradition to draw upon, but we don’t need Jesus’ reminders… we engage in lots of preparation for Christmas.

Don't you see why it would be so easy to send this lesson into the same scriptural oblivion where we send other Bible passages that we have deemed irrelevant and archaic? Like so many other parts of scripture which seem to fit better with first century Palestine, this is a tough passage for reasonable, intelligent people to take seriously. The frightening words appear to be a poor match for the assurance of Advent. The urgency is lost on a world that does not seem to change much from year to year. As for Jesus’ insistence that we be prepared, most of us are more than ready for Christmas to be over with by the time it gets here. For us, Christmas comes on December 25. That has not always been the date for the celebration of Jesus' birth, but it has been for the last fifteen hundred years. We know in Matthew Jesus says that not even the angels in heaven know the hour, but it appears that they are the only ones! The rest of us know. It is December 25. It's that date every year, and there is nothing that is even remotely unexpected about it. How could there be?

With this date securely determined, with all the help we have in getting ready, even the late afternoon, Christmas Eve shoppers like me have no excuse. Yet, in convincing ourselves that we are ready, or at least that we will be ready when time draws closer, there is for some of us this nagging emptiness. Maybe it is the rush of it all. Maybe it is lines at the stores. Maybe it is the sense of obligation too many gift-givers feel. Maybe it is the financial over-extension which adds pressure to the late-winter months.

For whatever reason, we may find that we are not as prepared as we once thought. Matthew may have been on to something after all. Perhaps it is time to reconsider what it means to be prepared. There is this possibility that being prepared for Christmas means more than finishing our shopping. Advent and Christmas are compromised badly when we focus too much on what is under the tree and too little on who is in the stable. The coming of Christmas is not the same thing as the coming of the Lord. It may have been once upon a time, but it's not anymore. "Are you ready for Christmas" asks a different question from "Are you ready for the Lord?" Of course, we are ready for Christmas. With this much notice, everybody ought to be ready for Christmas. "Are you ready for Jesus?" Now, that's a different question.

My daughter Jen gave me a bumper sticker which reads Got Jesus? It’s a critical question this time of year. If the answer is no then what you’ve got in His place is a major problem. We have allowed the early Christmas displays to lure us into a false sense of readiness. We have fallen prey to advertisements and commercials that tell us our level of preparation can be measured by whether we have purchased their product for our friend or spouse or child. Even in church, we are led to believe if we light a few candles and bring out the greenery we are somehow ready for Christmas. Well, we may be ready for Christmas, or at least what Christmas has become, but that is not the same thing as being receptive to the presence of God living at the center of our lives.

But hear this: Outlandish ads and outlet malls do not determine the time or the content or the nature of what is at the heart of this celebration. It is not Christmas until God says it is Christmas. The first Christmas happened to coincide with the coming of the Lord. God longs for that to be at the heart of our celebration again. Most of us have tried the commercial side of this holiday and found it to be wanting. We too want our Christmas to coincide with the coming of the Lord. We want that Light to shine into our lives, to illuminate our homes, to dispel the darkness in our world. We want to anchor our lives in that baby named Jesus, to be loved as we have never been loved, to focus our lives on the lasting and important things. We want that Messiah to get rid of  evil and eliminate poverty and ease human suffering. We want that voice to stand up for the poor and stand against oppressive powers and stand among the hurting of the world.

Let's be clear about what we are talking about when we refer to "the coming of the Lord." Some are holding out for Jesus to arrive a second time by riding in on a cloud. Some spend so much time speculating about that possibility that they give insufficient consideration to Jesus' first visit. The coming of the Lord in this Advent season has to do with how this story of God-with-us… did you know that’s what Emmanuel means…God with us. Understanding how Advent and Christmas are about God with us continues to demand our attention and allegiance. The issue is not how God may be revealed at some later point, but how we respond to the way God was revealed at the birth of Jesus. The Word has become flesh and in seasons like this one we focus more intently on what that means for our lives.

The question haunts us. "Are you ready for that kind of Christmas?" To be ready for Christmas in the biblical story does not involve relaxation, but upheaval. We know that the coming of the Lord will challenge priorities and prejudices. We know that the kind of world for which we long cannot be accomplished without confrontation and change. We know that kind of messiah, no doubt, will ask a lot of us. Are we ready for that kind of Christmas?

It is interesting what we have done to the concept of messiah. From time to time we hear people practically making sport of those who were unable to recognize Jesus because he came into the world as a helpless baby. That is, after all, the way a large percentage of us come into the world. There's some question how much anticipation there was for the coming of the messiah. For those who were looking for a messiah, it is usually assumed that they were looking in political palaces and courts of honor and homes of wealth. Our messiah, of course, slipped in the back door through the unlikely entrance of a stable, accompanied by poor parents and smelly animals. It is true that many were so certain of the circumstances of the messiah's birth that they were not able to recognize anything which contradicted their own thinking. That reminds us that we cannot pin down God.

However, in one respect, we are the ones who have missed the point. The hope for a messiah in the Old Testament is a hope for a political figure who would set things right. Part of the reason the people ached for a messiah was because the world was in such sad shape. Isn’t that still true today? A baby, even one named Jesus, was dismissed from consideration because a baby could not bring about the changes that were so desperately needed. And whoever heard of a carpenter from Nazareth becoming the messiah? Then and now, carpenters were useful people, but they did not have the power to correct the injustices.

Hungry people were being ignored. Poor people were being neglected. Sick people were being forgotten. Those who were different were being left out. The Romans were oppressing the people. People of all kinds were yearning for a center to their lives that would bring more hope and meaning than they had been able to find elsewhere.

Today, hungry people are equated with being lazy. City highways are designed to take traffic over and around the out-of-sight, out-of-mind poor. Neighborhoods are closing their hearts and doors to centers where AIDS patients can spend their final days in dignity. Neighborhoods fight against half-way houses for ex-offenders or drug addicts in their back yards. And people of all kinds are still yearning for a center to their lives that will bring more hope and meaning than we have been able to find elsewhere.

It will be easier to celebrate Christmas as we usually do than to celebrate the coming of the Lord. We know that the coming of the Lord into our lives, churches, and communities will mean change. We have made Jesus into an object of personal devotion, but the mission of the messiah was much broader. The messiah was to be a political figure who would establish God's ways as the rule for humankind. The messiah did not come to bless our prejudices and to look the other way from our indiscretions. No, the messiah came to lift up the humble and bring down the proud, to call people away from division and into community, to calm fears and instill courage, and to evoke our compassion for the hurting and left-out of the world. And we know changes like that are going to be painful because most of us have something invested in keeping things as they are.

Christmas has a comfortable ring to it, but the coming of the Lord stretches and pulls and gnaws at us. Christmas will allow for family gatherings by the fireplace, but the coming of the Lord will call us to see every person on the planet as part of the family. Christmas will save us from the messiness of a troubled world; the coming of the Lord will save us from ourselves and push us to transform the messiness so that we can have real peace with ourselves and each other.

As it turns out, Matthew was right. We know that a loving God does not want pain and sorrow to continue. We do not know the hour or the day, but we shouldn't be too surprised if some voice calls us to an even greater generosity on behalf of the suffering of the world. We shouldn't be too taken aback if we are tapped on the shoulder and directed toward some worthwhile community project that needs our support. This is why since I got here I’ve been trying to turn our attention outward…to things like the Food Pantry and the Mission, and healing services for not just ourselves, but for people from the community. We shouldn't be too startled if we begin noticing things that just aren't right and go to work to change them to benefit other people. We shouldn't be too alarmed if we find ourselves being led to develop a deeper spiritual center for our lives.

It could happen at anytime. Some will respond, some won't. That's okay. At some later point, some other unexpected hour, they too may respond. The good news is that we are sure God isn't going to give up on us. God does not forget or forsake. God comes to us. For some, God brings renewed promises that they are loved. From some, God requires evidence that His kind of love is still real and alive in the world. Jesus says, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” How can we be ready? Really ready.

How can we be sure that Jesus doesn’t say to us Truly I say to you, I do not know you? First. We cannot share a faith that we don’t have within us. We need to take these gospel lessons to heart ourselves. Over and over again Jesus teaches that to be ready for the bride groom we must confess our sins, believe in Jesus and follow him as our Lord. Now, that may seem a strange thing to say to a bunch of people in church on Sunday morning, but going to church won’t get you into heaven. You can’t tell a saint by looking at them unless you’re Jesus himself. If you ask 100 people in church on any Sunday do you believe in Jesus I predict pretty close to 100 of them will answer yes. The devil believes in Jesus too but he doesn’t follow him. So the first and most important thing we each need to do is examine our own lives and see if we can say that we have made a conscious decision to believe in Jesus and follow him as our Lord. If we haven’t that should be our first priority.

Second, we need to heed the gospel warning about being ready and the challenge from Jesus to go and make disciples. In the great commission, Jesus says Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing.

We’ve built a good foundation. Father Glenn and Father Miracle have preached and taught and I’ve tried to continue the work they began. I think we have a pretty good foundation. Let’s be clear though, a good foundation is not a house. In this case a house is spreading the good news to others. Once someone responds by believing in Christ then we are to help them grow as a disciple, that is teach them about Jesus and nurture them in their faith. Then, together, empowered by the Holy Spirit we’re to do the things Jesus talks about throughout the gospels. Ministering to the least of these.

There is nothing standing in our way when it comes to carrying out the great commission. As Pogo said however, we have met the enemy and they are us. We are the only people standing in the way of the evangelistic revival that Jesus has in mind for us. 

And us is not just the clergy. When the sheep are being separated from the goats we will all be asked clergy and laity alike. What did you do with the gifts I gave you? Did you tell people about me? Did you care for the poor? Did you feed the hungry?

Matthew 25:34 says , Then the King will say to those on his right, Come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” There’s a kingdom prepared for us. We’re meant for glory. To live in glory with Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity. The Father has provided this kingdom in his wisdom and power. Jesus his son died on the cross so that we might inherit this kingdom as his brothers and sisters, God’s sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit is working on us to prepare us for this kingdom just as he is working on the kingdom to prepare a place for us.

Our life’s work is to believe in Jesus and having believed to bring others to believe in him. It’s important. It cannot wait until we are ready. Jesus says be ready now. It will not do to say oh I don’t like to talk about my faith. Or I don’t know how to talk to others about Jesus. We’re talking about life and death. Not telling someone may mean they never hear the good news, never experience Jesus’ transforming power, never experience the joy. I want to suggest it may also have implications for us. What did we do with the gifts and opportunities Jesus gave us?

In the parable of the wedding banquet, a man is thrown out of the banquet because he didn’t have the right clothes. Sounds harsh? What are the clothes? Being ready. So we need to share the good news for two reasons. First because we don’t know how much time the person in front of us has. They may die tomorrow while we’re waiting for the right time to tell them. Second, as with the rich man, we might die tomorrow and once dead not have the opportunity to tell them.

Bob Dylan wrote a song entitled You’re gonna have to serve somebody. In it there’s a line that goes It may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re gonna have to serve somebody. Jesus is crying out to us saying choose whom you will serve. We are all going to have to serve somebody. Whether we realize it or not we do choose whom we’re going to serve. If we believe in Jesus and decide to follow him as Lord of our lives then he says we have to go and make disciples. He says those who are not for him are against him. Not telling people about the savior who saved our lives for all eternity ends up benefiting the enemy. We unintentionally serve the enemy by doing nothing. That’s what he wants. He wants no one to know about Jesus because he knows that each time someone decides to believe in Jesus and follow him as Lord that’s one more person he loses.

Today we start a new church year. I’d like to challenge us to think big, dream big about what God has in mind for us. We are so richly blessed. We have a Savior that loved us enough to die for us and he wants to use us… shabby, broken pots of clay that we are, to save the world. I want each and every one of us to make a personal commitment to share our faith with others. I want each and every one of us to commit to bringing at least one other person or family to St. Mary’s. Invite someone who is sick or lost a job or has some emotional difficulty in their lives to our healing service. I want us to become a Church with a capital C that makes disciples who make disciples. That’s how the kingdom spreads. The more we grow the more we can do. Look into the eyes of Jesus. Tell him that you are thankful that he died for you on the cross. Tell him that you are going to spend your life telling others about your Lord and Savior. Keep your eyes on Jesus. And in the end Jesus will say to you, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That’s what it means to be ready. That would be putting Christ back in Christmas. Amen.